


Escape

by sadyshea



Category: Emmerdale
Genre: Fluff, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-01-05
Updated: 2015-01-05
Packaged: 2018-03-05 11:48:37
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,861
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3119048
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sadyshea/pseuds/sadyshea
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Aaron can’t seem to find any peace these days, what with Robert Sugden eveywhere he goes. Aka the “one where Aaron doesn’t understand why Robert won’t just let him drink his beer”. Pure fluff.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Escape

“A pint, please.”

  
Aaron starts as he recognizes Robert’s cool and perpetually bored tone. He doesn’t want to look over but he isn’t able to catch himself before he does. Chas is already serving Robert and Aaron grips the edge of the bar to keep himself from stalking over to Robert right there and then and smashing the blonds’ face either his own lips or the bar itself.

  
Robert pretends not to notice him as Aaron quickly turns his gaze back to his own pint. Once Chas pours Robert his beer, she walks over to her son and implores, “You all right, then? Has something ruffled your feathers?”

  
Aaron tries desperately to ignore his mother’s tone that is dripping with concern. His cheeks burn as he feels Robert’s stare fall upon him. Aaron grumbles, “I’m fine. Just a bad customer at the shop today. It’s all good.”

  
“Fine.” Chas muses. “Don’t tell me anything. It’s not like I was the one who brought you into this world or anything.”

  
Chas twirls away, going back to her work. Robert chuckles under his breath but when Aaron turns to glare at him for his much unwanted input, Robert busies himself with his cell phone. This only makes Aaron fume even more.

  
Needing some space, Aaron snatches his glass off the bar and makes his way toward his favorite booth. Yet, as soon as slides into it, he finds himself looking across at a very amused looking Robert Sugden.

  
“Trying to escape me, are we?” Robert accuses, his eyes shining with mischief.

  
Aaron deflates, feeling his shoulders slump. He knows he’s already lost and there’s no way to get away from Robert without garnering even more attention to them. The last thing Aaron wants is people looking their way because although Robert’s the cheater, he still is ashamed to even been seen in public with him.  
Looking past Robert for a moment, Aaron sees his mother looking at them with a confused stare. They at least had the excuse of the investment for why they might be talking or there’d be no other good excuse as to why they’d been conversing. Chas turns back to her work once again and Aaron realizes Robert has actually posed a question of him.

  
“Even though it’s hard for you to believe, Robert, you are the last person I want to be around right now.” Aaron mutters, bringing his pint to his lips and taking a well-needed gulp. He slams down the beer, starling Robert slightly, whose face has gone from playful to disappointed. Aaron takes advantage of the change, “Leave me alone, will you?”

  
Robert seems to contemplate the idea for a moment. Yet, Aaron knows the blond isn’t going anywhere. When you tell Robert Sugden to do something, he’ll do the opposite and twice as much. Sure enough, he stands up to his feet which gives Aaron a glimmer of hope that Robert might actually give him some peace but instead Robert rounds the booth and slides in right next to Aaron, leaving only mere inches between the two of them.

  
“Is this better then?” Robert wonders, feigning innocence even though there’s an underlying husky tone to his voice.

  
Aaron hates how much power Robert has over him, especially when their proximity shortens. Aaron can smell Robert’s overpriced aftershave and can even see where he left a mark from gripping onto Robert a little too hard from their most recent tumble in the hay.

  
As much as he hates it, Aaron has never been so fiercely attracted to someone in his entire life. Adam was a confused attraction, Jackson was his first encounter with real love and sacrifice and Ed had been there to help heal him but with Robert it was different. The attraction was incredibly primal.

  
“Shove off, will you?” Aaron grumbles but his tone betrays him.

  
Robert grins triumphantly, seeing the potency of his effect on Aaron. “I think that’s the last thing you want right now. In fact, I think that if I wanted you right here and now, you’d do little to stop me.”

  
Aaron moves as far he can away from Robert and mutters, “I thought you were the one all concerned about people figuring out what’s going on between us. Aren’t you being a little obvious right now?”

  
A flash of recognition sparks in Robert’s eyes but it quickly disappears. Robert whispers, “I miss you. I don’t care what other people think. Sod them all.”

  
“That’s not how you felt the other day when you called everything off.” Aaron retorts, probably a little too aggressively but it also feels good to get a little of his anger toward Robert out in the open.

  
Robert is a little taken aback by this and gives Aaron more space, his gaze softening. “I made a mistake. I want this and I won’t deny myself of something that I want.”

  
Aaron feels anger bubbling up inside of him. “Why is this all on your terms? What if I don’t want this? You can’t just go around ordering people to what you want, when you want. I’m not one of your employees, Robert, desperate to please you all the time, terrified that I’m about to be fired. You don’t control me. You don’t get to just call me when you feel like it. That’s not how this works.”

  
Robert coolly puts one hand on Aaron’s thing, fingers splayed. “Tell me you don’t want this. That you don’t want us.”

  
Aaron wishes he could say the simple phrase but he can’t. Robert’s hand is hot against his leg, almost burning him at the touch. Aaron’s eyes dart around; suspicious that someone might notice the contact.

  
“You should go, Robert.” Aaron blurts out, narrowing his eyes at Robert. “Before I deck you.”

  
“Aggressive today, are we?” Robert purrs, gripping Aaron’s thigh even more firmly than before. “I can do aggressive.”

  
Aaron takes his pint and chugs the rest down before pushing past Robert. He storms out of the pub, Chas calling after him as her son exits. He’ll have to make up some excuse for his behavior later but he hardly cares at the moment. He just needs to get away from Robert. He can’t handle the confusing, hot and cold, on and off again-ness of every single interaction with Robert. It truly does his head in.

  
Without a destination, Aaron wanders the street, wishing he had somewhere to go where no one will find him. It takes a moment for the perfect place to dawn on him but when it does, he changes directions immediately.

  
The Barn.

  
It doesn’t take him too long to get there but when he does, he lets out a big breath of relief, dropping down into the hay. He wishes he could go back to work and pour himself into repairs but Cain already says he works too much.

  
Aaron clutches the side of his head. He wonders when he’ll ever truly find peace again. He knows it isn’t exactly a realistic goal in the small town but he hopes it will. It’s moments like these where Aaron wishes he’d never agreed to meet Robert when his car had “broken” down. He should have told Robert to shove it because it was his day off and got on with his life. Now everything was much too complicated.

  
Slowly, Aaron starts to feel better. The solitude and quietness of the barn helps and after a while, he regains his composure. If Robert tries to mess with him again, he’ll give the idiot a black eye and be done with it.

  
Unfortunately, Robert is standing right in front of him. Somehow he must have snuck into the barn when Aaron was thinking. Aaron stands to his feet and stalks toward Robert, slamming the smug blond up against the barn wall.

  
“What the hell are you doing here?” Aaron demands, shaking from anger but he somehow manages to keep his grip on Robert’s collar firm.

  
Robert doesn’t fight back at all which makes Aaron more frustrated. His eyes are soft and something in Aaron breaks a little, his grip loosening slightly. It only gets worse when Robert starts to apologize. “I’m sorry. I was out of line.”

  
“Yah, you were.” Aaron mutters dejectedly, letting his hands fall to his side, letting go of Robert completely. A rush of desperate sadness shoots through Aaron. “Why can’t you just leave me alone?”

  
“Am I torturing you?” Robert asks and somehow it doesn’t sound sarcastic, as if he really cares what Aaron thinks. “You know, that’s the last thing I want, right?”

  
A flicker of resentment makes Aaron shudder. He admits, “You’re using me, Robert. I don’t know what you want from me, but whatever pathetic reason you need me, that’s all I’m good for to you. When you’ve got what you wanted, you’re done with me. Have you ever thought about what that does to me? How confusing that is?”

  
Robert looks down, shaking his head in what Aaron can only define as shame. When Robert raises his gaze again, his eyes are shining, “When did this get so complicated?”

  
“When it became more than a one night stand.” Aaron responds easily. “When it became more than just shagging. When you told me that you missed ‘this’, when I don’t even know what ‘this’ is to you.”

  
Robert is shaking now, if only slightly. Aaron fights the urge to reach out a comforting hand to Robert. The corner of Robert’s mouth twitches as if he wishes to share something but the silence hangs instead.

  
Aaron backs away, becoming even more overwhelmed than he had been before. Why isn’t Robert telling him it means nothing? Why can’t Robert just tell him it’s over, really over? Why can’t Robert just be with Chrissie so that Aaron can go back to his life? Aaron turns, making his way toward the door when a low whimper stills him.

  
“It’s an escape.” Robert admits weakly. “You’re the one person I can be myself around, completely myself. That’s what this is.”

  
Aaron’s cheeks grow hot as he turns around, “Then why didn’t you just be my friend? Why did you have to kiss me and make everything insane?”  
“But talking is only part of it.” Robert blurts out, “I…. I need you.”

  
“Don’t you do enough shagging with Chrissie?” Aaron wonders, clenching his fists.

  
“It’s different with Chrisse.” Robert tries desperately to explain, leaning his head back, looking up to somewhere to find the right words. He looks back at Aaron, “It’s hard for me to even understand. I’ve never… I’ve never felt this way before.”

  
Aaron’s head is spinning. “What the hell are you talking about?”

  
Robert quickly closes the space between them and mutters, “This.”

  
Before Aaron can back away, Robert is kissing him. Aaron wishes he could just push Robert away but instead he completely understands what Robert is trying to say. Aaron deepens the kiss, the need between them growing.

  
Shockingly, Robert’s the one to break the kiss, cradling Aaron’s chin in his hands, “This is what I need. You and me.”

  
Aaron can’t argue with that.


End file.
